3 kids fall from windows

Boy, girl remain in hospital after weekend accidents

Two children remained hospitalized Sunday and a third escaped serious injury after falling from windows in their Chicago homes--accidents which police say are a chronic problem in the summer.

Safety experts say there are several ways to guard against such falls, which kill 12 to 14 children in the country each year and send about 4,000 to emergency rooms, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Most seriously hurt was D'andra Nicole Abron, 21 months, who fell three stories onto the front stoop of her family's West Side three-flat while her mother was in the bathroom Friday evening. D'andra was admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition, but Sunday afternoon her condition had been upgraded to serious.

D'andra's mother, Angella Abron, 24, said she had gone to the bathroom as D'andra watched cartoons.

The next thing Abron realized was someone was "ringing the doorbell nonstop," she said. When she looked out her living room window, a neighbor told her D'andra had fallen, she said.

"It was just that fast. I never pictured my daughter falling out a window," she said. "It shouldn't take this to have the windows safe."

Abron and her husband, Donald Abron Jr., said their landlord has promised to put safety guards on the window.

A 5-year-old boy was in good condition at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital Sunday after he fell from a second-story window about 4 p.m. Saturday in the 7100 block of South Cornell Avenue, authorities said.

In a third accident an 8-month-old Rogers Park boy rolled off a couch, knocked out a window fan and fell from a third-floor window Friday, police said.

The ground he hit had been softened by recent watering, which helped the boy escape serious injury, authorities said. He was treated at Children's Memorial Hospital and released.

Although the City of Chicago does not require window guards--bars to keep children from falling from windows that can easily be removed in case of an emergency--the city is working with legislators to pass state legislation to require the safety devices.

The city encourages building owners to use window guards or window stops, which keep windows from opening more than 4 inches, said Kristen Lobbins-Cababan, a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department.

The National Safety Council also recommends that parents never depend on screens to protect children, keep furniture away from windows and open windows at the top, not the bottom.